


boundless

by erenmin



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: F/M, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy VII Remake Spoilers, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:09:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23907472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erenmin/pseuds/erenmin
Summary: Cloud gets a say this time.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife
Comments: 10
Kudos: 119
Collections: Umbrella & Nailbat | Member Stories





	boundless

**Author's Note:**

> and the endless list of fandoms i contribute to only grows, especially in quarantine. the first half of this is just clerith word vomit because those are just my thoughts, lmao. and yes this scenario has been written a million times but do i care? absolutely not.

The only word to describe her. Describe his time with her. Describe what their entire relationship has felt like. The amount of time they’ve spent together. 

Or more like how long it feels. In reality, it’s a very small period of time, yet Cloud feels like he’s known Aerith for years and vice versa. He’s still trying to decide if he likes that or not. 

Despite his initial resistance, the natural feeling of her accompaniment settled a bit too quickly for Cloud’s liking. But he found himself powerless trying to fight against it, similar to his early efforts to scare her off with his aloof demeanor that worked on everything else. Aerith was too damn patient and determined. She was too damn nosy.

Her constant questions about his past, his present, anything about him. Cloud didn’t like talking about himself, especially to his clients and especially about his time in SOLDIER that seemed too painful to recall most of the time. Even without answering he felt so transparent under her gaze. All he was was a bodyguard to Aerith, and he wanted to uphold his professionalism despite the nonexistent pay. She didn’t take herself as seriously, so she had no problem constantly stepping on his toes (literally, at times) with her constant touches, never letting any space come between them, always having some snarky response. It honestly pissed him off a couple times, but she still never went too far in her questioning and seemed to back off right before she overstepped.

Despite all of the initial negative feelings, Cloud felt himself slipping the more time he spent with Aerith. How he would let things he saw in his visions that he still couldn’t quite explain slip through his lips, ceasing to protest her ideas (but he still didn’t explicitly agree to them), the high fiving, not recoiling from her touch anymore. One time he found himself leaning into one of her touches and he almost tripped over his feet. He felt lighter with Aerith by his side.

Everything crumbled and fell on top of Cloud when Shinra finally caught up to Aerith and ripped her away. He was so angry that he didn’t know what to do with himself. He wanted to be angry at Tifa for sending her out alone, angry at Barret for leaving Marlene alone so far away needing to be saved, even angry at Aerith for giving herself up after fighting and evading for so long. But it was all misdirected and deep down Cloud knew that. He was most angry at himself for failing as a bodyguard. For letting himself get that close to a person, not keeping his distance like he usually did. For going against Elmyra’s request like he did, where she was just being a good mother and trying to protect her daughter. He pulled Aerith into sector 7 and thus involved her in his mess, and now she was gone and unprotected.

He fell into a troublesome slumber that night in Aerith’s house, even more so than usual. But then he was woken up by steps, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to rest again until he investigated and ensured his and everyone else’s safety and security. 

He found himself almost chasing after her down the steps and into the garden, his chest feeling tighter than ever before with want. 

And there she was, stood before him seemingly unharmed with the same smile she always wore. He realized almost immediately that this was all just a dream, that she was still far away and not safe under his wing. But he let himself believe that they were both standing in the middle of the garden like the day before, awkwardly standing by and watching her talk to the flowers and pick some to take to the Leaf House. 

Cloud was unsettled by Aerith’s words; she spoke of the Shinra headquarters as if they were her real home and mentioned death as if she had already let herself become dejected at the idea. He found himself promising to remember the few uplifting thoughts she shared, and he even surprised himself by telling her to “embrace the moment”, but it was worth it to see her perk up. 

He felt himself grow warm as Aerith expressed her gratitude from meeting him, which also baffled him. Cloud wasn’t special. He could barely hold a casual conversation and he could barely tell the difference between weeds and flowers. Yet Aerith enjoyed her time with him and--

_ “You can’t fall in love with me.” _

Cloud was a SOLDIER. He knew what it felt like to be beaten until he couldn’t breathe properly, he knew the searing pain of a bullet, but  _ this.  _ He felt the pang throughout his entire body and he heard himself intake a sharp breath, but he couldn’t fully catch it. He felt paralyzed where he stood, too stunned to do anything except look away so he couldn’t tell her anymore by seeing his expression. He eventually found himself able to take in the rest of the air into his lungs and he sharply exhaled, trying to relieve himself of the deep pain in his chest. He supposed he couldn’t deny it now. 

He’s pulled back into the reality of his dream when he feels her warm hand on his cheek, slightly rough from always working in dirt and being sliced by thorns. He sucks in another breath that he fails to catch once again and snaps eyes back on her, and he unintentionally recoils from her touch.

_ “It’s not real.” _

This was real, what he was feeling. These changed feelings were what manifested and came from the unknown. He  _ loved  _ Aerith. He felt himself fill with fear at the thought, and then despair at her words. How could he give so much of himself up to this person already, and she won’t accept it?

She pulled her hand away too soon, and he phased right through her when he tried to get that contact back. It all felt so unfair. She was slipping through his fingers, out of his grasp and reach. He looked down at his hand, as if there were something wrong with it.

_ “Don’t I get a say in this?”  _

Until now, he couldn’t describe what his changed feelings toward Aerith were. The constant tightness in his chest when he was with her, how he would go warm hearing her laugh or seeing her smile. The urge to protect her went beyond professionalism and duty, and he went sour each time he watched her materialize her staff when they encountered a monster or other slimy being. Cloud thought that he had been putting everything into his fighting before, but with Aerith he found himself swinging his sword a bit faster, his grip a bit tighter, his arms tenser, and his mind sharper.

_ “Time to go.” _

Cloud slipped in one last promise of rescue and reunion before he saw the beginnings of Aerith dematerializing into the sky, and he found himself awake with a deep ache still in his chest before he could fully see her off. It remained as he helped the people in the slums, helped Leslie in the sewers, climbed topside and fought through what seemed like all of Shinra’s military.

He spent the entire journey trying to prepare himself for the worst, but the ache only got deeper. He managed to survive the journey and slice through each enemy he encountered, but it never went as deep as Aerith slicing into him.

When they finally got to the lab and laid his eyes on her he felt himself grow overwhelmed with happiness, and he noticed her eyes light up like he had never seen before. The bliss lasted for only a second, as Hojo’s experiments and monsters were sent for them to block their escape and Cloud found himself back to fighting like he did when it was just him and Aerith.

***

It’s over for now; the fighting. They’ve eluded Shinra and defeated Destiny and now everything is unclear, so unsure. No one knows what is to come next, not even Aerith, who before seemed like she had been withholding something from the party. 

It’s been a week since and they’ve planted themselves in Kalm, a small nearby village with nothing more than a couple houses, a shop, and the measly little inn they’re shut in until they move on again. Or until they figure out where to move on to. Cloud gives himself time to think, and the incessant ache settles back in his chest. He barely sleeps anymore, opting to sit out on the crates splayed out in front of the inn and look up at the starry sky that he missed out on while in Midgar. He didn’t realize how much he missed it until he saw it again, and he didn’t feel as suffocated dealing with his much more frequent visions in fresh air rather than his small, muggy hotel room. 

He hasn’t gotten a vision on this particular night, but he wasn’t holding out. He just takes deep breaths and breathes in the fresh air that isn’t infected with air pollution like in the city. 

“Heya!” Cloud almost jumps out of his skin at Aerith’s voice, realizing that he was starting to doze off sitting up outside. He keeps his arms crossed as he opens his eyes and spots her standing in front of him, her arms tucked behind her back and a sheepish smile on her face. 

“Warn a guy, would you?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” she laughs. She eyes the empty crate next to him and he nods his head forward to invite her to take the spot.

She accepts his invitation immediately and has to do a small hop onto the crate, but she seems so far away and she almost has her back fully to him, leaving as much space between them as possible. It unsettles Cloud to see her so detached, but he makes no move to get closer.

“This all feels like the garden again, you waking me up.” he says and she laughs again, weaker this time. “Is this real?”

“Unfortunately.”

They sit in silence, and it’s almost unbearably awkward that Cloud wants to bolt back up to his room. He doesn’t know what to say or how to make the situation any more bearable. 

She breaks the silence with, “I’ve never liked the sky, or at least seeing it.”

“Why?” Cloud furrows his brows at her statement. 

“It has no bounds; no end. There’s no protection from what may come from it,” she says. “At least in Midgar the plate would catch whatever fell from it first.”

He would catch anything, let it crush him before it ever touched her, Cloud thinks. But he doesn’t say it. He can’t bring himself to say it.

“What’s next?” he asks instead, and he wants to punch himself for asking such a stupid, unanswerable question. For saying that after she was so open with him. She doesn’t answer right away, and the silence is prolonged for what seems like hours but actually lasts only about another minute. 

“I.. I’m really not sure.” she admits, confirming his thoughts. “I don’t know how to answer that.” Cloud looks away from her.  _ Learn to talk to her, you idiot. _

“How are you feeling?” he asks. Cloud can’t recall the last time he’s asked someone that, checked on someone. But he wants to know how Aerith is feeling, so he can fix it, even though he knows he doesn’t know how to. 

“I’m fine,” she answers curtly, yet still in a soft voice. He doesn’t believe her. “You need to stay focused, Cloud. Remember what I said.”

This isn’t the direction Cloud is trying to take the conversation in, but Aerith’s last comment swerved it and now they both know where this is going, but this time it’s real and Cloud isn’t letting anything go unsaid. Not again.

“But we changed everything, Aerith. We’re free from whatever Destiny laid out for us.”

“We’re not in Midgar anymore, Cloud,” Aerith shakes her head. “This is bigger than that, more than just ‘bodyguard work’. I don’t know what’s going to happen anymore and I can’t put that burden on you again and let you get hurt.” 

Cloud felt himself growing frustrated at Aerith’s words, he hates how fearful she sounds, how she’s the one trying to push him away and now they’ve switched roles. Despite what he said and how he may have acted when they reunited, Aerith had never been a burden to Cloud. Escorting her back to Sector 5 and wandering around, having her tag along with him on the way back to Sector 7 then Wall Market, his willingness and readiness to walk her all the way back to her house when he was stood in front of the Sector 7 gates. Cloud would do so much more than just get hurt for Aerith, no matter what she said to him. 

“You don’t get to decide for me Aerith. You can’t let fear and uncertainty beat you now.” he stands up and turns around to face her, hands on his hips. “We just have to keep moving forward. Like what you said: every minute, every moment, matters.” 

Aerith looks up at him and she lets out a laugh once more, one sounding much more genuine that makes Cloud go warm and remind him of the ache in his chest whenever he’s around her. “I remember that.” 

Cloud’s lips quirk up into a smirk at her using his words against him like he did to her, but it leaves his face as quickly as it appears. 

“Aerith, I think I do get a say in this.” Aerith sighs and she stands up, closing the gap between them and she looks at him expectantly. He meets her eyes and the green shines under the streetlight, and he takes a second to examine every feature on her face and he’s taken aback by how breathtaking she is.

“I suppose,” she sighs. She lifts her hand and places it on Cloud’s cheek like in the garden, and he doesn’t recoil this time. “What do you say, Cloud?”

Cloud lets himself enjoy the contact, savor it. His eyes flutter shut as he melts into her touch and he lets out a shaky breath, not knowing he was holding one in this entire time. All of his apprehension and nervousness vanishes with Aerith’s small touch and he wishes he could feel her warm touch forever. When he feels Aerith start to pull away some his hand flies up and she doesn’t phase through his this time and he catches her by the wrist. He opens his eyes and sees the surprised look in her eyes, and he reevaluates his grip to make sure he’s not hurting her. He doesn’t break eye contact as he turns his head and presses a kiss into the palm of her then presses her hand back against his cheek. Aerith huffs out a small laugh as she presses herself against him and places her other hand on his shoulder. She swipes her thumb across his cheek slowly back and forth, and Cloud seems to relax further and he can’t stop looking at Aerith. He’s not sure what to do with his other hand so he keeps it hanging at his side and he starts to lean in but then he hesitates, as if to ask Aerith if she’ll have him. 

Aerith closes the gap and presses a kiss to his other cheek, his jaw, the corner of his mouth, then properly as if to fully accept him. Cloud slides his hand from hers to her wrist and lets her take the lead, following her movements, fully embracing her and the moment like he suggested back in the garden. 

He never wants this to end, but he pulls away first to catch his breath for the umpteenth time and makes sure to catch Aerith’s eyes once she opens them and he doesn’t dare look away, as if she’ll disappear again if he even blinks. Aerith looks back with the same intensity and he can see that she sees the affirmation in his gaze, his grip on her wrist tightening but not enough to hurt her to let her know that they’re both here,  _ now,  _ and he isn’t letting go anytime soon. 

And that’s all the say she needs to hear. 

**Author's Note:**

> literally cannot name two people more perfect for each other than these two dorks. they're truly going to be the death of me.
> 
> you can find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/erensmin)
> 
> feedback is always appreciated!


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